Improvement in grain-bins



3 Sheets-Sheet 1. W.' S. SAMPSON.

Grain Bin.

No. 93,352 Patented Aug. 3, 1869.

N. PETERS. PbuYn-Llhognpmn Wahlngi'm. D C.

3 SheetsSheet 2.

W. S. SAMPSON.

Grain Bin.

Patented Aug. 3, 1869.

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Letters PatentNo. 93,352, dated August 3, 1869.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known tl1at. I,W1nLn .M S. Smurson, of the city, county, andState'of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGrain-Bins;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

The common method ofstoring grain in wooden bins, while open to the veryserious objections of great firerisk, the attack of vermin, and wantofdurability, seems still to meet the wants of grain-storers more fullythan anyother system heretofore presented. This is due principally tothe fact of the perservative qualities of the wood, which, by absorbingthe moisture and heat from the grain, prevents the same fromdeterioration. The chcapness of wooden bins has also been a very strongpoint in their favor.

A patent was granted Badger and Sampson in 1859 for an arrangement ofmeta] ic, bins; designed to remedy the defects of wood bins by givingperfect security against fire and vermin. Experience proved, however,such metallic bins to be defective in the essential feature ofpreserving the grainfron'l the effects of its own heat and moisture, byreason of their incapacity to absorb and carry 0d the same.

A patent was granted to Sampson and Johnson, as assignees of Sampson, in1862, for a mode of constructing grain-bins of brick, in combinationwith metallic bond-plates and tie-rods. This invention was designed,

by employing the absorbingqualities of the brick, to

overcome the defects of the metallic bins in respect to theirnon-absorption of the heat and moisture from the grain, retaining thequalities of security against fire and vermin.

This planof construction, although a great improve ment on the metallicbins, has very serious defects of its own. These defects are- First, thegreat quantity of material necessary tobe employed to obtain therequisite strength;

Second, loss ofsforage-spacc due to such great bulk of material; and 4Third, consequent greatly increased cost of structure.

It is the object ofmy invention to produce grain bins,

which, while they are the and vermin-proof, allow the free escape of theheat and moisture from the grain by a system of ventilation, and whichshall'at thesame time be built with the least weight of materialfand theleast loss of storage-space, and the least cost of construction whencompared with other fire-proof bins. My invention consists- First, inconstructing grain-bins of wire cloth in cy lindrical form; the meshesof the cloth giving-the required ventilation; the cylindrical formgiving the greatest strength with the least material; and the me tallicnature of the cloth, its security against'fire and vermin.

Second, in securing the wire-cloth shell against vertical-strain, bymeans of longitudinal battens or plates riveted thereto. I

Third, in congregating a number of cylindrical bins of equal diameters,to constitute a' grain-storehouse by arranging them in parallelcontiguous rows, so that the centre of a bin in one row will beequidistautfrom the centre of the two adjacent bins in the contiguousrow; said arrangement giving the greatest economy of material andstorage-space.

To enable others skilled in the art to make anduse my improvements, Iwill now proceed to'describetlie same by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is avertical sectional elevation of grainbins, embodying my saidimprovements; 7

Figure II is a sectional plan of same;

Figure III is a sectional elevation; and

FigureTV, a sectional plan of the mode of forming the bin-floors orbottoms.

Like letters designate like parts in each of the fig-' ures.

A A represent the grain-bins made of wire cloth,

and cylindrical in form.

B B represent the hopper-bottoms resting upon'the columnsO 0. Thesehopper-bottoms are conical in form, made of cast or wroughtiron, and areprovided with a cylindrical flange round the upper base, from' which thebins A A start.

A. central nozzle, D, provided with proper valve, controls the exit ofthe grain from the bin.

A lateral flange, E, projects from the upper base of the hopper; saidflange being of hexagonal contour; the diameter of the bin being that'of the inscribed circle.

' The columns 0 O are. located at the intersection of the hexagonalflanges, so that each column supports a portion of the weight upon threecontiguous bottoms.

The wire cloth employed in the construction of the bins A A is composedof sheets-of convenient width, and of a length equal to thecircumference of the bin. The union of the sheets in the vertical seamsis efl ected by lapping the ends and applyingwasher-plates FF on' eachside, and riveting or bolting through said plates.

. Experience has proved that by means of these plates the joints may bemade equal in strength to the body of the cloth.

The horizontal seams may be riveted up after the manner of a commonlap-joint, washer-heads being employed for the rivet. 4

The strength of the sheets may 'be gradually decreased from the baseupward, and made to suit the actual strainsto which they are to be sbjected.

G and G represent the longitudinal ribs or stifi'em shown in Fig. II.

iron. The bars G are applied to the points of tangential contact of thecontiguous cylinders, and the rivets or bolts extend through andthrough, so that at these points the cylinders are rigidly secured, oneto the other, and the stability of the structure as a whole therebyattained, which is of the greatest importance when the structure isunloaded of grain.

The arrangement of the bins, so that the centre of a bin in one rowshall be equidistant from the centres of the two adjacent bins in thecontiguous row, is clearly This arrangement has a threefold object:

' First, the triangular spaces (shown at H) left between the bins arerendered of the least possible area, so that the loss of storage-spaceis reduced to the minimum.

. Second, the bins are all of the same size, and cylindrical in form, sothat the pressure of the grain when they are filled subjects thematerial of the shells to tensile strain only, thus enabling the bins tobe made with the least Weight of material, and consequent cost.

Third, the triangular spaces are made to serve the important, and infact, essential function of surrounding each bin with air-fines, toreceive and carry off the heat and moisture from the grain as it escapesthrough the meshes of the wire cloth.

The greater uniformity of fibre in the wire, and the better quality ofthe material employed in its manufacture, give to the wire cloth anadvantage over plate-iron in point of cost for equivalent strength,while the plate-iron is, for other reasons before stated, rendered unfitfor this purpose.

I No special saving herein storage space is claimed in favor of the wirecloth as compared with the plateiron.

In comparing with the brick bin, I find great advantages in favor of thewire cloth, viz:

First, the saving in storage-space, due to the great dilierence in thethickness of the bin-walls, amounting to from fifteen to twenty percent.; 1

Second, great reduction in the weight of bins, the ratio being about asone to twenty;

Third, less cost of construction; and

Fourth, more perfect preservation of the grain.

I propose to employ galvanized-wire cloth, so as to secure the binsagainst rust and corrosion from the moisture in the grain. Thegalvanizing being effected after the cloth is woven, adds materially tothe strength thereof.

I will now describe the wire-cloth floor, shown in Figs. III and IV.

J represents longitudinal girders resting on the posts R, and Lrepresents joists spanning from one line of girders to the other.

M represents the sheets of wire.cloth lying upon the joists, and runningat angles thereto, as shown.

Angle-iron rings N, laid upon the wire-cloth floor, constitute the basesfrom which the bins start.

Central nozzles O are provided, for the discharge of the grain.

The flatness of the bin-bottom will require a small amount sweeping orshovelling when the bin is to be fully drawn off.

The pn'ncipal advantage of this form of floor, and the one which maymake its use in some cases preferable to thatof the hopper-bottoms, isthe freedom it affords to the influx of air into the grain, to assistthe ventilation thereof.

Having thus described my improvements,

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is- Y 1. The grain-bin, constructed of wire cloth, substantially asherein described.

2. The longitudinal battens or ribs G, applied to the bin-cylinders, asand for the purpose set forth.

3. The congregation of equal cylindrical wire-cloth bins and interveningtriangular spaces, to constitute a grain-storehouse, when arranged as"shown and described.

WM. S. SAMPSON.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WILHELM, J N0. J. Box-sun.

